Is This Our Normal?
by mac.roo5891
Summary: Things have been really calm since the Benefactor. Everyone is now trying to figure out how to get back to a normal life, if they even know what that is anymore. But this is Beacon Hills, and nothing stays quiet for long. The pack is soon catapulted into yet another mystery, one with almost no leads. They try to balance normality and the supernatural, can the two coexist?
1. Chapter 1

Stiles POV

Everything was calm before it all went bad again.

…

We had finally made it to senior year…well, not all of us. But most of us, which I suppose is a silver lining given everything we've been through the past few years. At least that's what they keep telling me.

Yeah, I still feel guilty every time I think about her or whenever we're entering a new stage of our lives or basically all the time. I can push those thoughts aside though, I found out that I can still live my life without the guilt taking me over. Which was a huge revelation, let me tell you. Being surrounded by friends and my dad helped bring me through the rough times, they were the ones that gave me the strength to keep on going through the motions.

And that's exactly what it felt like these days, simply going through the motions. I hated to say it, but life was actually boring. School was a drag and all of us were still so caught up with our adventures that we didn't know what to do without them. We had forgotten how to live a normal teenage life, at least I know I had.

I suppose on the outside we looked like any normal friend group at school, we sat together at lunch and in classes, we hung out after school and on the weekends. But mostly we just sat around wondering what was coming next and when, how long we had to just enjoy normality.

That's just it though, it's been six months and we're still sitting around talking about actually having normal lives. So far it's only been talk, nobody has actually made an attempt to try and exist outside of our supernatural bubble.

I guess it's easier said than done though, it just so happens that all my friends are supernatural. You can pretend that everything and everyone is normal all you like, but when it boils down to it, we're still different. And that's never going to change, it'll always be a part of my life too.

It's hard looking towards the future. My future. I know I'm the only one who can truly escape it all. I could be looking at colleges on the other side of the country, so I could leave everything supernatural about my life behind. Pretend it never happened. Make new friends. Sure, I'd been possessed by the Nogitsune, but I was fine now. I could leave that part of my life to haunt my dreams, it was a nightmare after all. It could be a chance at a clean slate for me, remake my life as it should have been before this all started.

Yet, here I was, on my laptop looking at universities nearest to Beacon Hills. I know I could never leave my friends behind like that. I hate to say it, but I couldn't imagine my life without them or the supernatural. It was a part of me now, just as much as any of the others, even if I was the only person in the pack that was human.

' '

'Criminal Justice programs in California'

I couldn't imagine heading in any other direction, career wise, than this. It was my whole life, after all. Not only did I grow up with my dad as my hero, but I've sort of turned into our pack's personal investigator. Not to sound cocky, but I knew I could figure things out if I put my mind to it. Plus, I like being able to bring a skill to the pack, especially one that is actually helpful. It makes me feel like I belong a little more.

So, that is where I'm looking to head with my life. Will I take over when my dad retires and become sheriff of Beacon Hills? I don't know just yet. But a criminal justice degree, I've researched, opens up a wide range of things I could do and career paths that would interest me. So that is where I'm starting. I'm happy that I've always had a general idea of what I wanted to do post-high school. I know I'm lucky in that sense.

Scott still doesn't know what he wants to do next year or even if he wants to go to college. Everyone keeps pushing him to at least start taking some gen ed classes, but I know in the end he'll make his own decision. Lydia wants to major in mathematics, but she's also been planning on earning her PhD since she was ten. After finding out what she was, Kira plans on being an electrical engineer so she can further research her own powers.

And then there's Malia. She was able to be a senior with all of them this year. To be honest though, I think the teachers just let her move on because they didn't want to deal with her again. Of course, I would never say that to anyone, but I can tell what other people think of her. They get tired of her inability to pick up on the most obvious social cues, her intense personality, and even her increasingly poor performance in school. Malia is very into being a human, but isn't into everything that goes along with that like school or work or even looking ahead to the future. The pack has been very excepting of Malia and everyone seems to genuinely like her, they don't mind her flaws and are probably the only ones who honestly accept her for who she is. We're all works in progress really.

I care for her, I really do, perhaps more than anyone else in her life does. But I can't pretend like all the things that bother other people about her don't also bother me. Sometimes it's hard to have to backpedal all the time. I feel like most of our relationship revolves around me constantly explaining things to her. It gets tiring, not being able to have a more intellectual connection. But it's okay. I know our relationship isn't normal, but will anything in my life ever be normal? Nope. So it is what it is and it's not like I'm not happy, because I am, I just…

"Stiles!"

I turn around to see Malia standing in the doorway to my room. I blush, feeling guilty for what I was just thinking about. And also I am thanking all that is holy that Malia's powers do not involve reading minds.

"Hey, what's up? I thought you were out shopping with Lydia and Kira?"

"I hate shopping," she says, coming in and sitting on my bed.

I turn my desk chair around to face her. "I know that. But it was more about, you know, some girl bonding time?"

She ignores my remark, but I'm used to that. Instead she keeps looking everywhere except at me. It's funny some social cues she doesn't understand at all and others she picks up without realizing it.

Trying to probe her and see what she's really up to I ask, "So do you think you're ready for the calculus test tomorrow or do you want to study some more tonight?"

"I'm not going to school tomorrow," she states matter-of-factly.

"Um, you can't just skip school to avoid taking tests or giving presentations. We've talked about this. They're just going to make you retake it the next day. You can't avoid this test."

"I'm not avoiding anything."

"So, uh, I guess I'm not following. Why aren't you going to school tomorrow?"

She finally looks me in the eye. Her eyes are sad. I soften my own hard expression and move to sit on the bed beside her.

I ask her what is going on and she seems to be struggling to find words.

She finally opens her mouth, but looks down at the floor as she says, "I'm not going to school tomorrow or the next day or the next day after that."

I don't say anything for a while. And neither does she. We both just sit there in silence. I really don't know what to say next. Or if I even want to know what she means by that statement.

"I went and talked to Peter last night," she says looking up at me again.

I immediately sigh. I know she'd been getting closer and closer to him over the past few months, going to visit him at Eichen House almost once a week now. And no, I still obviously don't trust him or like him. But Peter is her father, and who am I to stop her from trying to have some sort of relationship with him? The only reason I didn't put up a bigger fuss about it was because he is safely behind bars there and can't hurt any of us. Plus, I know that she wants to find out as much as she can about her birth mother and feels like Peter can help her. But she knows I've been looking into it as well. I've spent most of my free time, which has been plentiful right now, to research the Desert Wolf and try to find any possible connections. So far, I haven't gotten much of anywhere.

She continues, "He said he thought he remembered a name. Someone who may have known my mother. So, I'm going to leave Beacon Hills and try to find this person."

I stare at her. "You have a name. One single name that may or may not have anything to do with your birth mother. My guess is most likely not. And on top of that, it's a name that Peter gave you, and one that he is even unsure of."

"I know you don't like Peter and that you don't trust him. But I have to, he's the only person that I know of right now who has ever had contact with my mother. Besides, what use would he have in lying to me?"

"Uh, were you not around during the berserker fiasco? With Kate? Have you not listened to anything I told you about Peter?" I knew I was raising my voice but I couldn't help it now. She was being absolutely ridiculous about this. About him.

"I understand why you feel that way. But nothing you say right now will change the decision I already made. And that is that I am going, alone, to track down this person. Stiles, I am going to find my mother. I have to find her."

There's nothing more to say about the situation and we both know it. I won't be able to change her mind. Nobody will. She's too determined of a person. I had lost before I even opened my mouth.

I sigh, "Can you at least tell me the name?"

She smiles for the first time since she showed up here, "You know I can't tell you that. Then you'd try and follow me."

"I could help you though, we could both search for this person. The whole pack would help," I start to protest.

"No. I don't want that. This is my journey. This is my mother I'm trying to find. I can't put anyone else through whatever I'll be facing out there, least of all you. I care too much about you guys. And things just started calming down. Everything is fine here. It needs to stay that way. I really appreciate everything you guys have done for me, but you know deep down this life doesn't really suit me."

I can only nod. I knew this would happen, I just thought it might have lasted until after graduation. And I kind of hoped if I could get her to stay that long, she might have finally accept this humanistic lifestyle. It was only a hope though.

"So you're leaving tonight," I state. Of course she would, there's no reason for her to stick around after finding some information.

"Yeah. I came hoping you would walk me to the edge of town, to the woods."

"Well, of course I'll walk with you. I don't want this. You know I don't. But I am glad you didn't just take off."

"I wouldn't leave without telling you goodbye," she says.

And now it's my turn to smile. I knew then that what we had was real, but with all good things, some must come to an end. It's just how it went, it was inevitable.

…

We sit and watch the sun go down at the edge of the woods. It was beautiful really, something I don't take the time to do anymore. And I'm glad this was the last moment we spent together. I didn't know when or if I'd see her again. It didn't need to be said, we both understood what was going on. Malia was a free spirit, and I was the only one that tied her to this one single place.

But I tried not to think about that.

We both stand up and look at each other, long and hard. Neither of us cry, but that's never been us.

She breaks the silence, as it's time for her to leave. "You'll tell the others?"

"Yeah."

"Goodbye, Stiles."

"Goodbye Malia. I hope you find…" is all I manage to get out before she silences me with a kiss.

It felt natural that our relationship ended the way it began. When we finally pulled apart she immediately turned around and ran into the woods.

When I could no longer see her form, I turned and started walking back to my house. Even without her there to see me, I still didn't cry. I'm not sure why but I felt like maybe I could finally work on getting back to that normality we've all been discussing. And I smiled because I knew I would be okay. I had my whole life in front of me and I was excited about what that all meant.

And then I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard that all-too-familiar scream.


	2. Chapter 2

Lydia POV

It only lasted a few seconds but that was long enough to feel as if my throat had caught fire.

I'm standing in the shower, letting cold water run down my back, trying to calm myself down after this latest episode. The pack probably wants to meet immediately, surely they all heard that. But they can wait. After all, this is strenuous on my body, not theirs, they have no idea what it feels like to scream like this. It's draining, emotionally and physically. The countless missed calls and texts will still be there in a half hour or so.

When it happened, I had just gotten home from shopping with Kira and Malia, well, just Kira for most of it. Malia bailed a couple hours in, gave us some lame-ass excuse that she "needed" to talk to Stiles. Whatever. She could have just told us why she really wanted to go see him. We wouldn't have been judgmental. Annoyed maybe, at least on my part, but never judging. Their relationship appeared to be more physical than anything, which was really starting to get on my nerves. Like, c'mon, we don't want to see that all day at school and at pack meetings. Seriously, just stop.

Ok. Rant over. Now back to the apparently more pressing issue.

What the hell was this about? I hadn't screamed in so long I had forgotten what it made my throat feel like. Trust me, this burning, raw feeling is not something I missed.

What is even worse, I don't know who I screamed for. It's frightening to think about, what if the scream was meant for one of my friends? I couldn't handle going through that again. But also, I screamed for Derek and that turned out to be a false alarm, so did something happen to my powers? Maybe I'm broken. I suppose I shouldn't be so worried, since last time nothing came of it, but I still am. It scares the living hell out of me.

*Sigh*

On that note, I better get out of this shower and meet up with the others. I wipe the tears coming down my cheeks, I didn't even realize I was crying until now. Pull it together, Lydia. Get your game face on, it's time to jump back into the supernatural. Emotion has no place there.

…

We're standing around Derek's loft: Scott, Kira, Liam, and me. Derek hasn't been back since Mexico, off with Braeden on some adventure. Derek gave Scott a set of keys to look after the place while he was away, so we use it to hold our pack meetings when we want some privacy. The possibility of somebody dying is kind of something we want to keep on the down-low, away from the Sheriff or Melissa, at least until we know more. No reason worrying anybody else, yet.

We're just bouncing possibilities off each other, trying to come up with something half-way reasonable. We've got pretty much nothing so far, as to why I screamed.

"It just seems weird that all of a sudden, out of nowhere, something supernatural pops up," says Liam.

"It's not weird for this to show up randomly," Scott brushes off, "that's how it always starts. It's not really something we ever expect to happen."

Kira sounds off the questions we all have, "but why now? Why after all this time? Who else is out there?"

We all just look at each other. Nobody has any answers. We're already stuck and we've only been here for like 30 minutes.

"As much as I hate to admit it, but you know who always seems to figure out our mysteries?" I ask.

"Yeah, I know, Stiles," Scott replies, looking at the others.

"And where would Stiles just happen to be? Oh, and is it also a coincidence that Malia is missing as well? Surely they know about our little situation here. Why aren't they here?" I ask. I feel bad bringing it up, I don't want to come off sounding like a bitch, it's just, he needs to be here and he's not. And I know he's with Malia, which ticks me off even more.

"I already texted both of them, telling them where we're at. I've called Stiles and left voicemails, he hasn't called me back." Scott says rather impatiently.

"So are we just supposed to sit here and wait on them?" I ask rather heatedly.

"Yeah, I guess we are. Unless anyone has any other plans of how to go about this?" Scott asks, raising his eyebrows.

That shut me up. Scott was a natural leader. He knew how to handle people, what to say and when. Scott also knew that we all worked best as a team, each of us bringing something valuable to contribute. But right now, we all knew it, we needed Stiles. He was the one that figured out and connected the points none of us could see.

It was about 10 minutes or so later when Stiles showed up at the loft. We stopped our conversation and looked up at him, he was all muddy and looked like he'd been caught in the rain as well.

"It's about damn time dude," said Liam, "did you get Scott's texts?"

"Yes. I heard her scream actually, I was near her house when it happened."

I whipped my head to face him, hoping I heard that wrong. He was near my house and heard me scream. Why didn't he come check on me then, if he was so close?

The hurt must've been evident on my face, because Stiles looked directly at me and said, "I'm sorry, I had to check on something. I thought maybe…"

"You thought what?" Kira asked.

Stiles looked really uncomfortable, avoiding everyone's gaze.

Scott stepped closer to him, curiously looking at him, "what do you know?"

"Um..."

"Stiles, where is Malia?" I ask, suddenly aware of her absence.

Stiles sighs. "Well, uh, that's another issue I needed to tell you guys about. But I'm starting to think maybe the two events today are related. That's why I'm just now getting here."

We all look at him expectantly, pushing him to continue.

"What other event happened today?" Kira asks.

"Malia came over after she was with you guys and told me she was leaving town. Apparently Peter gave her a name of someone who may have some information about her mother. So she left. I walked her to the edge of the woods to say goodbye, she didn't want to have to deal with so many goodbyes, that's why she wanted me to relay the story to you guys. She's sorry she didn't tell everyone else herself. I was walking back to my house, was on Lydia's street, that's when I heard her scream. I immediately freaked out, I thought something happened to Malia, so I ran like a madman through the woods looking for her body. I didn't find her, so it probably wasn't her, thank God. After that I checked my phone and headed straight here, my car is still at my house and I got caught in the rain, hence my appearance."

Stiles looked out of breath after his spiel, but he also looked incredibly sad, you could see it in his eyes. I felt sort of bad for him now. Malia just up and left him, literally with almost no warning. And now he had to come here and deal with this. It wasn't really fair.

Kira spoke up first, "And so how do you think Malia leaving is related to Lydia's scream? You said it yourself, it wasn't Malia who was killed."

"I'm not for certain, obviously, I just think it's rather coincidental that the same day Malia leaves to go find a name Peter gave her and then Lydia screams." Stiles says, "We haven't had anything supernatural go on since Mexico. Why now all of a sudden? Why is Peter just now giving Malia that name? I think it seems reasonable that the two have to do with each other."

Scott speaks now, "I think you may be on to something, it is quite the coincidence. How do we go about linking the two though? Do we even have any other information?"

I blink, right, of course, "The name. What's the name Peter gave Malia? We can start there and see if we can find anything on that person. Also, we should probably call Malia first so she can head back. I'm sure she'll jump at the chance for us all to help her find this person."

"Great, Lydia that sounds like a good first course of action" Scott remarks, "so what's the name Stiles? We can ask around, surely someone has heard of them."

Stiles looks at his feet, "Well, you see, um, the problem is that I don't exactly know the name."

"What? Are you serious?" Liam says getting a little heated. "What do you mean you don't know the name?"

"Malia wouldn't tell me because she didn't want me to follow her. Also, she left her phone, so I don't know how we'd get in contact with her. And she's long gone now." Stiles says remorsefully.

"Shit." I say under my breath.

"Why don't we just ask this Peter ourselves? Isn't he still in Eichen House? It's not like he can go anywhere" suggests Liam.

"Easier said than done," snorts Stiles.

"I don't see where else we'd start, besides Peter. We could at least try. Worst case scenario, he doesn't give us the name and we're back to where we're at now" says Scott. He looks at me pointedly.

"What?" I ask.

"Well, Peter does seem to like you the best…" Scott says quietly.

"Oh no," I say, "I am not dealing with him on my own. Not again. Not now. Not ever. You might as well forget that. No way."

"Obviously we wouldn't make you go in there alone you idiot," Stiles says.

I keep a straight face, but I'm smiling on the inside. I secretly love it when Stiles does that, sort of comes to my rescue. Though I'd never let him know that.

"Well it sounds like it's settled. We will start with Peter, hopefully he'll give us the name and then we can go from there," Liam says simply, "Now, if you guys don't mind, I would really like to go home and go to bed. I know senior year must be a breeze for you guys, but I am not a senior and I actually have a GPA to maintain. So if there's nothing left to discuss, I'm out. My parents are probably already starting to worry."

"No, you're right Liam, we should all go, get a good night's rest. We can start hashing out a plan at lunch tomorrow. None of us will be of any use half asleep." Kira says.

We all disband. Kira takes Liam and Scott home. I offer to give Stiles a ride home so he doesn't have to walk back so late at night, plus the two of us live the closest, it makes logical sense.

"I'm sorry about Malia," I say after a few minutes of silence in the car. I'm really not that sorry though. Sure, I obviously don't want her to be the one that died, and I'm sad that Stiles is sad, but deep down I'm glad their relationship has ended.

"Sorry about what? The fact that she left or the fact that we broke up?"

"Both," I simply state.

"I'm sorry, I really didn't mean it to sound so rude. Also, I'm sorry that I didn't come to you right after you screamed today."

"It wasn't that big of a deal. Well, it was, but you being there right away wouldn't have solved anything more. Plus, I know you were concerned about Malia, and rightfully so, it was smart of you to connect the dots so quickly."

"Yeah," is all he says. He turns his head to look out the window.

Neither of us say anything else until I pull into his drive.

Stiles unbuckles his seatbelt and opens his door. Before he gets out he says, kind of awkwardly, "Thanks for the ride Lydia, I really appreciate it. Also, I'm really glad you're okay. That we all are. We'll figure this out, I promise. Goodnight, see you at school tomorrow."

I smile meekly, "Goodnight Stiles."

…

I get home and drop my keys on the foyer table. I quickly change into a nightgown once I get to my room and crawl into bed. I feel like a zombie, and am so ready to sleep. I lay there for about a half hour, not able to get my mind off the day's events. I can't stop thinking about the person I screamed for, whoever they are, and worrying that it's one of us.

I'm still thrown off by Malia's leaving and that they actually broke up. I've been secretly waiting for this day for a long time, but I feel guilty about it now. I didn't want it to happen under these circumstances.

I grab for my phone and scroll through various social media and apps. After all, I still need to stay updated and current on normal life, I've just been getting used to it again.

I stop scrolling and stare at my screen, disbelievingly.

*BREAKING NEWS*

*Several masked men broke INTO Beacon Hills' notorious mental institution, Eichen House, this evening. It is unclear at the moment as to what/who these men were after. All of the suspects have been detained. However, riots ensued in Eichen House during the time the unknown men were in the building. Several residents of Eichen House were seriously injured and transported to Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital. More updates to this story as they come in.*


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Scott POV

Leaning against the side of the Sheriff's SUV, Scott feels his phone buzz in his pocket. Pulling it out, he looks down at a text from Kira:

*Lydia & I have been all thru the hospital. We don't recognize any of the people brought here from Eichen & nobody seems to know anything about what happened….Any luck on your end?*

Scott glances over to see Stiles, just inside the caution tape, in what looks to be a heated argument with his dad, arms flailing and all. Scott punches out a quick reply to his girlfriend:

*No. We've been here an hour, they're not letting us through. The sheriff isn't budging on this one. We have no idea if Peter is still in there or not.*

*Do you want us to head over there?*

*Wouldn't do any good. You guys should just head home. That's probably what I'm about to do. I'll just see you at school. Love you.*

*Ok. Be safe. And love you too.*

I look up to see Stiles heading towards me, grumbling about his dad being a pain in the ass, or something along those lines.

"Was that Kira?" he asks.

"Yeah, her and Lydia didn't find anything. I told them just to head home and get some sleep. We probably should do the same, it's 2 AM already and we've got school."

"Fine. Go home. I'll figure it out myself then," he almost shouts in my face.

"Dude, there's nothing more for us to do here. Don't you see that? We're not going to be able to get in there. Nobody is going to tell us anything. Honestly, let's just let your dad do his job and get out of his way for once."

Stiles opens his mouth like he's about to go off again, but then shuts it, clearly deciding otherwise.

"You're right buddy, as always," he says, "let's get outta here. We can deal with this tomorrow."

I smile and relax a bit, thinking, that wasn't so hard. It usually takes me hours to get him away from this stuff. We both hop into the jeep and start heading towards my street.

I look over to Stiles. His expression is hard to read, he's gotten better over the years about masking his feelings, but I can still feel the exhaustion seeping off of him.

"So," I tentatively start, "Malia. That was a big shock. I thought she was really getting along well here and everything."

"If you're wondering if I knew she was planning this, no, I didn't."

That is part of what I was thinking actually, Stiles and Malia's relationship had always seemed a little odd to me, but I had been sure there was more to it than what we could all see. Maybe I was wrong.

"Are you okay?" I ask him.

He pauses before answering, "Yeah, I'm fine. I mean, I kinda always knew this would happen if she ever got any solid information on her mother. I just thought she'd at least wait to leave until after graduation. I don't blame her for leaving though. And it was time, for us, I mean."

"So I'm guessing you guys broke up as well?"

"Scott, I don't think she's coming back."

"What do you mean she won't come back? Not even after finding her mother?"

"I don't know, man. I just don't see it happening. This life," he motions with his hands, "it wasn't for Malia. Everyone knew that."

"But you guys. I thought you guys loved each other? Isn't that enough? You seem half okay with her leaving, possibly for good…did you even put up a fight about it when she came to tell you? You just let her go that easily?"

Stiles sighs. "Scott, we didn't have what you and Kira have. Don't get me wrong, I really care about Malia, possibly more than anyone else in her life, you know that. I love her, I'm just not in love with her, you know? And for letting her go so easily, I respect her enough to not get in the way of her making her own decisions. Please, believe me when I tell you, it's going to be okay."

I let it go after that, there's really nothing more to be said. It'll be hard getting used to her not being here, but Stiles was the closest to her and if he's okay with it, I guess we all will be too. I can't help but sense the feelings of sadness coming off of Stiles, but for some reason I have a hard time believing it is Malia leaving that's causing it. But I don't want to press him any further, he's already on edge with everything going on.

Stiles drops me off at home and says goodnight. We have third period together, so I'll find out if his dad told him anything else about Eichen then. I unlock the door and step into the dark kitchen, placing my keys on the empty hooks beside the door. Mom must still be at the hospital, with all the new patients coming in, I thought. I drag myself upstairs to my room and flop onto my bed. In a matter of minutes I am fast asleep.

Lydia POV

I walk into third period English and go to sit down next to Scott, who is impatiently tapping his foot. As soon as he spots me, he says, "Have you seen Stiles this morning?"

"No," I say, "he wasn't in Physics with me first period. I just assumed he overslept, that's his usual excuse anyways, but he's typically here by now at least."

"Well, he's still not here," he says, gesturing to the empty seat in front of him, "and I swear to God he better not have went back out after dropping me off this morning."

I sigh. I couldn't quite figure Stiles out these days. He's late to school at least a couple times a week and says he overslept, but for some reason he always looks so tired, like he had barely gotten any sleep. He assures us he sleeps just fine, I highly doubt it though. And he just does not seem to care about school at all, which is weird because he was always helping Malia with school work. Why care about her succeeding and not himself? He's just lucky that he's smart enough to get by without studying, or else he'd probably be failing by now.

"Oh," Scott adds, "I just thought you should know, because I'm fairly certain Stiles won't bring it up, but he told me this morning that he didn't think Malia was coming back. Like ever."

"Seriously? How could he know that? What even happened really?"

"I don't know the details, you'd have to ask him yourself. But from what he told me, it sounded like it was just a matter of time."

"How is he?" I ask, trying not to sound too anxious, I just want him to be okay.

"Surprisingly, he seems just fine, about that anyways. I don't know what else is going on with him, but I don't think it has anything to do with Malia."

We are both left to ponder that as class begins without any sign of Stiles. I see Scott typing out a text, probably to Stiles, under his desk. I faintly wonder how many times he has texted Stiles this morning. I personally stopped texting asking where he was after the fourth time he was late. I figure he knows what he's doing, doesn't need us bothering him about it. Though, Stiles and I didn't have much correspondence at all these days.

I see Scott look back down at his phone, reading a text he just got and then instantly responding back. I don't know for sure if it's Stiles but I can't help but feel a pang of jealousy, wishing he had texted me instead.

My thoughts are jerked back to what's going on when suddenly the teacher is passing out a pop quiz from last night's reading. Dammit. Forgot to do that reading. I look over and see Scott's alarming expression as he reads the questions on the quiz, apparently he forgot too. Fortunately, I'd at least read this book years ago, but I felt bad for Scott. I knew his grades were picking up after everything supernatural had slowed down and he was able to focus on school more. Our chaotic alternate lives sometimes caused school to be thrown by the wayside. And here it was, just one small supernatural instance and it was already proving its affect.

The door pushes open just then, and Stiles comes rushing through in his trademark spastic way. Our teacher was just walking back up towards the front of the room, and so she hands Stiles a quiz as he walks by.

"I'll have to mark you as late, but, lucky for you Stilinski, you showed up just in time for our pop quiz. I hope you're ready," the teacher says.

Stiles mumbles something incoherently and moves to sit down in his chair. Scott looks up, but doesn't say anything, and Stiles simply sits down and begins frantically filling out the quiz. His movements are not in the least bit lethargic, but I can see the deep colored circles under his eyes, evidence of little or no sleep. I make a mental note to bring up his poor sleep habits later and then refocus my attention to my quiz.

…

I don't see Stiles again until lunch and as I sit down at our table, I can tell that whatever energy he had from this morning was quickly fading as he rested his head on his hand.

I had beaten everyone else there, it was just Stiles and I, and so I had possibly a couple minutes before the others showed up.

I slam my books down on the table to get his attention, it worked, his head jerking up abruptly.

"What the hell…"

"What's going on with you?" I ask calmly.

"What do you mean, what's going on with me? I just overslept this morning. No big deal."

"You say that every single time. I know you're not sleeping. So what's going on, really?"

"And why do you care all of a sudden if I'm not sleeping?"

I falter, trying and failing to come up with a response to that. I always care about you, I think. But I can't tell him that. Not yet anyways. I'm still coming to terms with my own feelings towards Stiles, and now is not the place or time to let those feelings be known. Especially after he just broke up with Malia.

We both just look at each other for a minute before Stiles speaks again.

"I'm sorry," he says, "I just, I'm tired and I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I stayed out too late last night trying to figure out more about what happened."

"And…" I probe.

"And it was totally worth it," he smiled, "I found out through my dad that Peter is still detained in Eichen House."

"Well, that's good news, I guess. But still. You could have went to bed and found that out today from your dad. You didn't need to be there all through the night. It wasn't necessary."

He smiles again, more sheepishly this time, "I know. I just like to be there when everything's going on."

I smile back. I couldn't fault him for that, it was just his nature. He loves this investigative stuff. It's clearly his passion and that is why he's going to do so well with a career in law enforcement.

Scott and Kira show up just then. Scott still seems pissed off, Stiles confirmed to him after English that he did go back to Eichen House after dropping Scott off. I'm a little surprised Stiles didn't try to lie to him about it, but I think Stiles was more concerned about the Peter information than he was about keeping up his cover about his sleep habits.

"So what's next then? Now that we know Peter is still there, do we set up a time we can go talk to him? Well, not me personally because of the mountain ash, but you know what I mean," Kira says.

"I guess that would be our next move…" Scott offers.

Stiles cuts in, "Unfortunately, I think that'll be rather difficult at the moment. My dad said Eichen House would have increased security over the next couple days."

"We could probably wait a few days," I say, "I don't think whatever's going on is an immediate threat. Honestly, the scream could've been a false alarm."

"I don't know that we want to take the chance that it's not a false alarm. We still need to do something," Stiles says.

"But what?" Scott asks.

The four of us sit there in silence, lost in our own thoughts.

"Do you guys want to get together tonight and order some pizza? Get a couple of movies? Remember our old pack movie nights? It is Friday, after all. We can all keep thinking about this and discuss it further tonight if anyone has any ideas. Does that sound good?" Kira suggests.

We all are in agreeance. Scott says he'll catch up with Liam at lacrosse practice tonight and update him on what's going on.

Funny enough, as long as it's been since the supernatural has taken over our lives, we barely ever get together and hang out as a group. I don't know why that is, I guess we all got so caught up with our own lives, trying to figure out how to adjust to a normality.

I nervously glance at each of my friends, wondering who it was that I screamed for. I put on a good front and try to blow it off to everyone else, hoping I'll convince myself it was just a false alarm. But I can't help but fight the feelings of dread inside of me. I don't think I could survive another friend dying.

Tonight will be good. Maybe we won't even talk about Eichen House or Peter or me screaming. But even so, this life has become so attached to each of us personally that we find it harder and harder to escape. I don't know if any of us ever will escape it. Or if we'd even want to.

Maybe tonight will be normal, or as normal as we can hope to be after all this time.


End file.
